The Guest & the Change (7 page)

Jo looked back at
Sebastian,
he was looking amused and mischievous.
 
But Jo couldn’t care, so absorbed with the new sensations he was experiencing; his desires, his enhanced sensations.
 
In fact, he felt care-free.
 
He didn’t mind what happened anymore.
 
He didn’t feel depressed.
 
He didn’t feel torn.
 
He felt full of life.
 
Glory.
 
Like his future was full of excitement and experiences.
 
Blood.
 
Power.
 
He wanted to feed.

He looked at Sebastian, who was still watching him closely, and Jo waited for him to tell him what to do.
 
He was at his command, eager for instruction.

‘Right, you listen.
 
What can you hear?’ said Sebastian.

Jo concentrated on his surroundings, feeling blood and power travel to his ears as he listened to forest sounds.
 
‘I hear small animals, nothing big.’

‘Concentrate harder, send out power,
draw
animals to you.’

Jo tentatively tried this and trickles of power extended out from him.

‘Now, when you sense something you want, let your power touch it, then pull.’

Jo concentrated hard again, sending out more tendrils of power, he felt more animals, one in particular, possibly a few hundred yards away.
 
He could hear a powerful heart pounding so it must be large.
 
He let his power touch the animal, a deer, and did as Sebastian said; he tugged at it with his power.
 

He sensed it change its direction and start heading towards him in the forest.
 
It wasn’t under his control, but it was heading into his territory.
 
Hunger coursed through his veins and he darted forwards.
 
The deer came into site and he raced at it.
 
He stopped, for a moment, in front of the deer.
 
It looked right at him, into his eyes, startled.
 
It was a beautiful male with large antlers.
 
Before Jo made his move the deer stepped back, lowered his antlers and rammed Jo right in the chest.
 
Jo staggered back, shocked, he hadn’t expected the deer to fight.
 

He looked down and saw the deer had drawn blood, but he could feel himself healing already.
 
He heard Sebastian laughing behind him, goading him on.
 
As the deer turned Jo took pursuit.
 
He watched its powerful muscles contracting as it ran, elegantly avoiding trees and fallen branches.
 
But Jo knew he
was faster.
 
He raced after the deer and sprang onto its back, feeling its tough fur beneath his fingers.
 
He grabbed at those antlers that had rammed him, delighting in taking power over this beast that had damaged him, and he yanked the deer’s head firmly to the side.
 
It screeched, the sound echoing through the forest, and Jo
lurched
forwards, sinking his lengthening fangs into the deer’s neck, piercing its jugular.
 

Warm blood rushed into his mouth and down his throat.
 
It was good and eased the dryness, but he wasn’t satisfied.
 
He drank and drank and drank; the deer’s life in his hands.
 
He took it, feeling the primal energy of the animal give him power.
 
He withdrew his teeth from the deer and grasped its neck, twisting quickly.
 
Energy rushed though him as its neck snapped and the dear tumbled to the ground.
 
Jo rolled away before he became squashed beneath the lifeless animal.
 
He leapt to his feet, springing back to face Sebastian.
 

‘More,’ said Jo, blood thirst still pounding in his veins.

***

Sarah broke away from Daniel, still breathing fast.
 
She stepped back from him reluctantly as he leant back against the bonnet, slightly out of breath, his lips swollen from their kiss.
 
Sarah couldn’t keep her eyes off him and he looked back at her with heat in his gaze.
 

‘I know where we should go,’ she said.

Daniel raised his eyebrows. ‘It just came to you, like that?’

‘Yes, a place I’ve walked in the woods, it’s not too far from here, about 20 minutes if we drive fast.’

‘Why there?’

‘I don’t know
,
I just have this feeling.’

Daniel raised his eyebrows again.
 
Sarah made herself stay put, resisting the urge to sink back into his embrace.
 
She knew that if she did she would give into temptation and they would never go out.
 
She needed to find Jo.
 
She needed to stop feeling so frustrated.
 
She needed this phase to end so she could face it and deal with it, and with the problems it would bring.
 
Then all the faster she would be over it, over this anger at Jo that was consuming her, and she would be free.
 

‘OK, if you’re so sure, go ahead and drive.’

‘I am.’

Daniel looked a little worried.

‘What is it?’
 
Sarah asked.

‘I’m not sure, I have a feeling too.
 
And it’s of unease.
 
Why would you suddenly think to go to a specific place?’

‘I really don’t know - I just feel this impulse.
 
It’s like we’ve got to go there.’

‘Do you often get feelings like this, that you can’t explain?’

‘I don’t think so.
 
Let’s go.’
 
Said Sarah, she was getting impatient and wanted to be moving.

Sarah picked up her
keys,
she appeared to have discarded them in her moment with Daniel.
 
She felt a pang, should I really be acting like this when Jo’s still missing?
 
But where the hell is he?
 
And it’s not like he hasn’t done anything like this before.
 
And, Daniel, there’s just something unexplainable about him.
 
I’m intensely drawn to him.
 
I’ve never felt so strongly attracted to anyone before.
 
The way he makes me feel, the way I gravitate towards him.
 
It’s like I’m not in control, like he’s in control of me.
 

She started to move closer to Daniel again.
 
He was still watching her, thinking, but she shook herself and made herself head for the car door, wrench it open and climb inside.
 
Soon Daniel was next to her and she smiled at him.
 
He gave her a glowing smile in return, making her insides melt again, and making her feel like everything would be ok.
 

‘I will go with you,’ he said, looking into her eyes, ‘but when we get out the car I want you to stay close.’

Sarah looked back into his eyes, so beautiful, and was lost to his words, his influence seeping in.
 
When he looked away Sarah saw him frown and wondered what he was thinking.
 
But her compulsion to visit this place persisted so she started the car and drove towards the woods.

Daniel reached out and brushed her cheek as she drove, then placed his hand, possessively, on her
leg.
 
Sarah couldn’t help but smile, and shot Daniel a look.
 
He looked beautiful, still
smoldering
.
 
It was a wrench to put her eyes back on the road.

The road wound around and they found themselves approaching the quarry and Quarry Bridge.
 
Sarah drove carefully over, there were steep drops on either side, and entered the smaller roads.
 
From here on the roads were surrounded by a dense canopy of trees.
 
Sarah was quite familiar with them - she’d lived in the area all her life and had long been a fan of forest walks.
 
She had walked all the trails for miles around, and sometimes explored off track too.
 
As a teenager she had camped in the woods with friends, freaking each other out with ghost stories.
 
She felt at home in the woods, and at peace.
 
If only she could find Jo and sort this mess out.

Sarah saw the turning she’d been looking for, and felt Daniel tighten his grip on her leg as she turned into the forest, the tall conifers shading their way.
 
The track was rough and stony but her car could handle it if she took it slow.
 
She glanced over at Daniel again - he was looking around, peering through the trees, alert.

When she looked back on the road she saw the place she’d been thinking of, a little further down the track.
 
A clearing where she’d parked before.
 
When she reached it she pulled up and turned off the engine.
 
‘We’re here.’

‘This is the place you thought we should come?’ Daniel asked.

‘Yes, here and the surrounding woodland.’

‘Don’t be disappointed if we don’t find anything.
 
And remember, stay close.’
 
And he gave her a grin, before exiting the car and dashing round to her side before she’d even finished undoing her seatbelt.
 
Sarah watched, amused, as Daniel opened her door and extended his hand.
 
As she took it fresh tingles shot up her arm and Daniel pulled her to him, teasingly, before closing her door.
 

This close, Sarah thought he was going to kiss her again, but he kept hold of her hand and walked back to the track they’d driven up, carefully inspecting the ground.

‘It looks like someone’s been here recently,’ he said.

‘How can you tell?’

‘These car tracks, they look recent.
 
They would have washed away in the rain if they were more than a few days old.’

‘People don’t drive up this way often,’ said Sarah.

‘No, I don’t suppose they do.’

‘Let’s follow them, find out where they go,’ said Sarah, pulling him after her.

***

Sebastian smirked to himself.
 
He had been listening very carefully and he’d just heard the sound he was waiting for; a car.
 
It looked like his plan had worked.
 
They were here.
 
He was excited to see how his plan would pan out.

Jo had just taken out that deer and his face was smeared with blood, but he was still ravenous as animal blood didn’t compare.
 
 

‘Jo, it’s time to hunt again now.
 
Listen
carefully,
try to extend your senses even further.
 
When you find pray, draw it towards you.’

He watched as Jo closed his eyes and focused hard on the animals in the forest.
 
Sebastian turned himself into a bat and flew up into a tree to watch the action, and to be out of Daniel’s way when he
realized
what was going on.

Jo’s ears pricked and Sebastian suspected he had heard that distant heartbeat, the heartbeat of a human.
 
Jo would be able to pick that up already.
 
It was such a natural instinct, the attraction to the sound of the human heart pounding.
 
He probably wouldn’t even notice there was another vampire with her.
 

He didn’t think any of them were in any real danger.
 
Daniel would stop Jo hurting Sarah.
 
Sarah would stop Daniel hurting Jo.
 
It was the emotional response he was eager to watch, and the consequences he would find amusement in.

He sensed Jo sending out tendrils of power - he must be wrapping them around Sarah now, pulling her closer.
 
I wonder if Daniel will even notice.
 
I would, but then, I am stronger than Daniel.